🏆 The Scoreboard Game v0.1.0
A whole-class game where one student is the scoreboard and event cards say what happens to the score when something happens. It teaches variables as something that remembers, and events as things that start other things.
You will need
- A whiteboard for the scoreboard
- The printable's event cards
- A marker
- Paper for the prediction sheet
The lesson, step by step
A thing that remembers
Write SCORE: 0 on the board. Say that a variable is a box with a name that remembers a number, and this one is called score. A student is the scoreboard and holds the marker. Nobody else touches it.
Rules as events
Deal one event card to each group, for example "WHEN someone claps: add 2 to score", "WHEN someone stomps: take 1 away", "WHEN someone says hop: double the score". Read them aloud. Say that WHEN starts a rule, and what starts it is called an event.
Predict a round
Call a list of actions: clap, clap, stomp, hop. Before anyone acts, groups write on the sheet what the score will be at the end. Do the round, with the scoreboard updating after every action, and compare.
Order matters
Run the same actions in a different order: hop, clap, clap, stomp. Predict again. Students are often surprised that doubling before adding gives a different score than adding before doubling.
Invent a rule
Each group writes one new event card of its own, with a clear WHEN and a clear change to the score. A rule must be fair to play and must not let the score go below zero.
Play the class game
Mix the new cards in and play a full round, with the score at the end as the class goal. Ask what the game had to remember, and what would break if the scoreboard forgot.
Questions to ask while they work
- What does the score start at?
- What event starts this rule?
- What does the score change to after each action?
- What happens if we swap the order?
If it goes fast
- Add a second variable, lives, that starts at 3.
- Add an if rule: IF score is more than 10 THEN say winner.
- Write the rules as a program and run it through a pretend computer on paper.
The printable
Cut the event cards apart. Give each group two or three. The sheet has a table to write the score after each action.
🏆 Event cards and score trace sheet
Name: ______________________
- WHEN someone claps: add 2 to score
- WHEN someone stomps: take 1 from score
- WHEN someone says hop: double score
- WHEN someone spins: add 5 to score
- WHEN someone nods: add 1 to score
- WHEN someone waves: take 2 from score
- WHEN: ________ : ________
- WHEN: ________ : ________
Score trace
1. Actions: clap, clap, stomp, hop. Score at the start is 0. Write the score after each action.
2. Same actions in the order hop, clap, clap, stomp. What is the score now? Why is it different?
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